Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her Answer of 22 June 2022 to Question 17999, for what reason a tribunal might access new written evidence at a hearing that her Department was unable to access during the decision-making process.

Our decision-making processes help to ensure that all relevant evidence is gathered as early as possible in the claim journey. Decision Makers are given additional time to proactively contact claimants if they think additional evidence can support the claim. However, there may be circumstances, for example a change in the claimant’s condition, which result in new written evidence becoming available at the hearing stage.